Cave In
by Emily Hoyt
Summary: Set: Prior to season 2 premier. If only he hadn't been wearing those blasted headphones! She needed to get him out of there! Mildest language


"What the hell?" Kate grumbled as she tried to sit up, but failed. She shook her head several times before realizing a piece of drywall was laying across her body. She pushed it off and tried to move again to find her foot pinned between large pieces of rock from the collapsed building. Looking around, she tried to find something to help pry her foot out, but the rubble around her was of no use.

Suddenly, memories of the blast came back to her and she scanned the room nervously. "Castle?" she called out, but was met with silence. "Castle, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Quiet. Stillness. Then, the sound of objects scraping against each other. She looked over to the moving rubble and saw a hand poke out from beneath it. "Castle?" she whispered and he emerged from the wreckage with a grunt.

"Beckett!" he gasped and moved as speedily as possible to her side. "Beckett, are you alright?" he asked, pulling off his jacket and balling it to place beneath her head. "What's wrong?" His voice seemed calm, but a subtle undertone of fear trembled through.

"I'm fine, Castle. It's just my foot. It's pinned and I can't move the rocks from this angle."

He twisted around and stared at the large lumps of stone pinning her foot in place. Moving closer, he lifted it out of the way and took her ankle in his hands. His fingers kneaded the joint and, after a few seconds, he set it back down.

"It's not broken… but the heels of your boots are," he said with a smile of relief washing over his face. She groaned.

"I loved these boots," she said with a three-year-old pout on her face, making his chuckle.

"I'll get you a new pair. The important thing is that you're alright," he said before sitting down and taking a long deep breath. She looked over at him and watched in silence as he pulled his cellular phone from his pocket. "No reception." Running a hand through his hair, he pushed himself up and began to step gingerly through the mess of the explosion. "I'm gonna try and find some."

"Don't go too far," she barked out, doing her damnedest to sound beyond upset and in control while all she felt was fear.

"I won't," he promised.

Kate had been on her way to see Richard Castle when she got the call about a bomb in a building nearby. Switching on the siren, she sped through the city and found the building a only a few blocks from Rick's apartment building. Drawing her gun, she went inside and walked through the mini-mall, climbed onto a fountain edge and made an announcement for everyone to evacuate as quickly and calmly as possible which resulted in instant pandemonium. People ran to the exits while she watched the man at the end of the hallway head for the underground parking lot. She knew that caramel suede jacket. She took off after him.

"Castle!" she yelled as he stepped into an elevator, the tiny buds in his ears obviously set to a much too loud volume level. She tried to catch him, but the doors closed and she swung her attention to the nearest staircase. Flying down the steps, she burst through the door seconds later to see him halfway across the lot already. She called out to him again.

"CASTLE!" she screamed and, finally, the echoes of the garage carried her voice to his ears. She saw the man pause and remove an earbud. "Castle!" she yelled and the man spun around, his blue eyes wide with surprise. A similar surprise briefly seeped into her brain when she saw him, unshaven, his clothes horribly wrinkled and with large dark circles beneath his eyes.

"Detective?" he asked softly as if he did not believe his eyes, but she had more important things to worry about now.

"Castle! No time! Bomb!" she panted and he jogged towards her a couple of steps when a thundering boom rang through the concrete walls of the parking lot. Cars near the source smashed into each other and debris went flying as the detective and the writer both hit the ground as close to a support beam as possible.

"BECKETT!" she heard him scream, but the blast and the rocks, rubble and concrete slabs falling to the ground and shattering into pieces drowned out his cries and hers.

Now, as the clouds of dust settled around them, Rick moved gingerly towards where the elevator had once been. Soon after, a string of curses hissed through his lips as he flipped the phone closed very abruptly.

"Beckett?" he called out and she slowly swung her gaze back towards him as he scrambled towards her. "No, no! No sleeping, Beckett. Beckett!" he said, but she continued to fade in and out. "Kate, listen to me. I don't know if you have a concussion of not. You've got to stay awake, Kate." She sat up a little straighter. "That's my girl. Okay, I'm going to go get–"

"No!" she squeaked out and he blinked several times. "Castle?" she whimpered, her eyes bright. "Don't leave. Don't leave me. Please?" she asked and he crouched down.

"I won't. I'm right here," he whispered and gingerly picked her up to carry her to one of the sheets of concrete that had fallen and created a wall. He rested her against it. "Is that better?" he asked and she tried to shake her head, but stopped abruptly and pressed her fingertips to her temples. "Yeah… you took a nasty bump to the head," he whispered and gently pressed the back of his hand to the side of her head, making her wince. "I know it hurts, but we're going to be okay. Now, listen to me… Kate, are you listening?" She lifted her head to look at him. "I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to stand over by the door to the stairs and open it. I should be able to get enough reception to send a text to Ryan and Esposito. I'll be right back." She whimpered. "I promise."

She gave another little whimper as he stepped away from her and she watched him like a hawk as he got further and further from her. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Several rocks fell from the ceiling and the place shook a bit, but once he had it open, the place steadied once more. He stood in the doorway for a moment before the rocks shook once again and, with a look to his phone, he tossed it up onto the nearest landing and threw himself towards her as a large rock fell right where he had been standing a second ago.

"RICK!" Kate cried out, unable to see him through the cloud of dust that the collapse had caused. "RICK!" she yelled again, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, she saw his figure rise up from the floor and take a limping step towards her. She jumped up and ran towards him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and helping him back to their spot where she had left his jacket.

"I'm fine. A little scraped up, but fine. Let's sit."

Collapsing against the concrete wall, they sat down and took deep breaths for a few minutes. "Stupid," she grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"If you hadn't have had those damn headphones in, you would have heard me make an evacuation announcement in the mall."

"So, it's my fault?" he asked sharply, but shook his head and sighed. "Kate… I don't want to fight."

"You love to fight!"

"True, but I don't know how much oxygen we have in here…"

"Castle?"

He lolled his head towards her and she saw the thin sheen of sweat along his brow. Her mouth opened to ask what was wrong, but she caught sight of a large, bloodied hole in his shirt and she gasped instead.

"Oh, my gosh…" she said, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket, but Rick dodged away from her. "Castle, don't be all macho. You're hurt."

"I'm fine," he said softly.

"But–"

"I said I'm fine!"

Silence settled between them and Rick rested his head against the wall they were leaning against. He took deep, stilling breaths as he sat there beside her, trying to block out the feel of her body so close to his. It had been months since he had last seen her. After he had brought her news of her mother, she had asked him to leave her alone and he had obeyed, unable to do anything else after opening the case up in the first place.

As he sat there, he felt Kate tremble beside him and he assumed that she was a little cold, but when he looked over at her, he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. He turned towards her and sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so gruff with you, Beckett."

"It's alright, Castle," she whispered. "It's not your fault. I just… I'm over-tired."

"That has to be the biggest load of crap I've ever heard from you, detective."

"Castle… don't start."

"I'm not starting anything. I'm trying to help you. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"I… I don't know if I want you to shut up or forgive me or if I want to kill you!"

"I really hope it's one of the first two options," he said and she gave a little chuckle. "That's better. A smile."

"I, uh… I was on my way to see you when I got a call on the scanner. Possible bomb."

"Beckett! That's what bomb squad is for!"

"I know, but I knew that they either needed or would need help evacuating. I rushed over here less than a block from your place and, when I got here, I made an announcement and everyone split. As the crowd thinned, I… I noticed your jacket and I knew it was you."

"Looks like you came to see me after all," he said with a smile and watched her eyes soften. "So, what is it?" he asked and she swung her gaze up to meet his. "You were coming to see me. What do you want?"

"I don't know, Castle."

"Right… shut it, forgive or kill… I remember." She laughed. From somewhere above, rubble from the collapse rumbled and a few more chunks of cement fell from the ceiling. Her laughter died and Rick threw his body over as much of her as possible when a fair-sized rock fell and smacked into his back. He grunted and she gave a little yelp of horror as she saw his face contort with pain.

"Rick!" she said, her whole body trembling with tears as the rumbling subsided and Rick gingerly sat back down beside her. "Oh, God. Are you alright?"

"Yeah… I'll just be kind of immobile for a couple of days."

"This is no time for jokes!" she screeched and he lifted his eyes, wide and silent, to stare at her as tears began to pour down her face once more. "Damn it, this is not how I want to go!" she said sharply. Rick's eyes narrowed.

"You're not going anywhere, Beckett! We're not going to die down here. I'm sure they'll find us in time." She looked up at him. "We're going to be fine."

"Castle, give it a rest…"

"How about you try keeping your pessimism to yourself! I have a teenage daughter whose mother is an immature basket case and grandmother is the world's biggest flake! Dying and leaving her with one of them is not my idea of a good time either, Chicken Little!" he yelled, his face slowly relaxing. "Dying doesn't appeal to me altogether, as a matter of fact."

"You're right," she whispered, hanging her head low. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you. So, if you're ready to talk a little more optimistically, how about telling me what you were planning on saying when you would have knocked at my door had the mall not needed your help?"

"I already told you; I'm not sure… All I know is that it's been way too long. Look at you," she said with a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You aren't shaving, your eyes have big dark circles around them… What happened? Busy night last night?" she asked, trying to make a joke, but Rick's eyes suddenly looked sad and he was no longer meeting her gaze. "Castle?"

"I just… I haven't been worrying about it so much. Hell," he laughed, repositioning his leg straight out in front of him and resting his chin on his other still-bent leg, hoping she could no longer see his face. "It's not like I'm still working with you and have to worry about representing the precinct."

"Castle…" she said, reaching out and touching his face gingerly to turn his attention back towards her. "Are you saying you haven't been shaving since you stopped working with… with Ryan and Esposito and me?" He tried to turn his head away, but she maintained her grip on his prickly chin. "Castle?" He laughed.

"Shaving, sleeping, eating… being social in any way, shape or form. I haven't… played poker," he said, sending her a sad smile, "in over four months." Kate laughed. "I'm serious, actually. I haven't had anyone over or gone to any poker games in… almost five months, come to think of it. I need to get a life again!" he said with a sigh and she laughed again. "I also need to get a recording of that sound. I've… I've missed you, Beckett… All of you," he amended quickly. "How are Esposito and Ryan?"

"Castle…" she said gently. "We all miss you, too. The dynamic isn't the same; we've lost our high close rate," she said with a smile and Rick returned it, but they refused to look at each other.

"You know, Beckett… you never did give me a chance to apologize about your mother's case."

"I know I didn't. I didn't believe you were sorry."

"What?" he said sharply and their eyes met once again. "Why would you think that?"

"Why did you open it when I specifically told you not to?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I opened it before you told me not to?"

"How could you open it without asking me? It's _my_ mother's case!"

"Well, after giving you such useful information, how could you stay mad at me for so long? It's not like I did it to be cruel!"

Their voices grew louder and louder as the fight got worse and they soon found themselves only inches apart.

"I have friends that are the top of their field. I knew they would be able to find things another pathologist might have missed!"

"What would give you the idea that I needed or _ever_ wanted someone else seeing those files?"

"What is your problem, Beckett?! I was just trying to help!"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, CASTLE!"

Rubble began to shift again and large chunks of concrete began to fall from the ceiling. Kate screamed and jumped into Rick's arms, who curled her body as tightly into his as possible. It stilled and they stayed curled together, panting softly as tears of fear began to shake her body. He ran his hand through her hair several times.

"Hey… hey listen… I'm really sorry about everything, Beckett. I'm sorry. I also really don't want us to die mad at each other." She gave a soft sob that only he could know was an attempted chuckle. He lifted her face from its location buried in his shoulder. "How about it?"

"Sure…" she whispered and their eyes locked for no more than a second or two before they crushed their mouths against each other. Her hands wound around his neck and his curled at the base of her neck, holding her against him as his mouth opened against hers. She answered, whimpering into his mouth as the kiss grew deeper and deeper.

It became so passionate that they never noticed the door of the stairwell burst open nor the arrival of several large firemen. At least not until one of them barked into his receiver that they had found two survivors, alive and… entangled. Rick and Kate broke apart from each other and stared at the suited man standing in the doorway. The voice on the other end asked if the man needed help, but the firefighter responded with a smile.

"I don't think we have a crowbar strong enough to separate these two."

Rick laughed while Kate blushed twenty shades of red and stared at him with a scowl. Within a few minutes, the two of them were saved from the wreckage and brought up to the ambulances waiting near the building. The driver of the vehicle as well as the writer and detective in the back were all quiet for the duration of the ride to the hospital. When they arrived, the doors were opened and they walked into the emergency room on their own two feet to be told to sit in the waiting section and that the doctor would see to them shortly.

"Kate," he said softly, trying to start conversation between them, but she sent him a withering glance and scowled.

"If you say anything about what happened back there, I swear to God, I will pullout my gun and put one right between your eyes, Castle."

A grin covered his face and he tried to say something, but she turned away from him, trembling. With a groan, he sat forward and held the back of his head in his hand. She turned to him briefly, but said nothing, not even as he rose from his seat and made his way to the nurse's desk and muttered something to the nurse, gripping the desk tightly. Suddenly, a doctor appeared and whisked Rick away into one of the rooms nearby.

By this point, Kate had slowly begun to panic and ran to the nurse's station, demanding answers about Rick's condition. The doctor reappeared.

"Are you Detective Kate Beckett?" the man asked as he approached her, making her spin towards him with her badge already in her hand. "Detective, are you aware that, during the course of this disaster, Mr. Castle received a blow to the back of the head from a piece of falling stone?"

"Um… I know a chunk hit his back."

"Well, another piece must have nicked his head, too. He bled into his brain and, as it clotted, it began to put pressure on some areas of his brain. He was just rushed inside to see if there's anything we can do, but I'm afraid that the clot has caused too much damage."

"So… what does that mean?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"I'm saying there's nothing we can do. The pressure will grow and some motor skills will be affected, but eventually, it will cause him to stop breathing. He asked me to tell you that it's not your fault," the doctor explained and the tears flooded down her cheeks for the umpteenth time that day. She took a deep breath.

"Can I see him?"

"I'm afraid he asked not to be seen by you specifically."

"Yeah, well… tell it to the badge, doc. I'm going in to him," she said and tried to breeze by the man, but he caught her by the upper arm and held her for a moment before sighing when he saw the determined look in her eyes.

"Detective, I feel I should warn you. He could already be unconscious."

She bit her lower lip and nodded her head before shaking loose of the doctor's grip and going quickly to Rick's side. The nurses within the emergency section directed Kate upon seeing her badge and she was by his side within ten seconds. She pulled a chair by the bed and took his hand.

"Castle?" she asked softly, but he did not reply. She gasped. "Rick, please don't leave me," she whispered and held her breath as he began to shift a little. His head lolled to one side and, when he saw her, his eyes clouded.

"I told… no vis… Go," he groaned and let his eyes slipped closed.

"Rick, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I held this against you for so long. I was wrong."

"Mm…" he mumbled, but she could not tell what he had said. He turned towards her again with a grunt and looked up at her. She tightened her grip on his hand. "I… am… sorry… Kate," he said, each word a struggle to get out. "I'm sorry… I be… betrayed… you. I'm sorry… you hate… me… now." The tears that had been streaming down her cheeks now raged unchecked while her lips quivered and she gasped through her tears for every breath.

"I don't!" she choked. "I don't hate you, Rick… I love you… Don't leave me, please!"

"Okay!" he said happily and sat up in the bed, smiling down at her and tightening his grip on her hand. She stared up at him with barely a modicum of understanding. Her eyes blinked in empty response. "Doc's a _real close friend of mine."_

_Within a split second, she stood up and began to pound her fists against his chest, desperate to try and hurt him, but he had foreseen the outburst and had made sure to hold the hand in his in place, leaving her with only one arm to attack him. He smiled and grabbed the flailing wrist in his other hand, holding them behind her as he pulled her closer. She continued to struggle._

"_Kate!" he said with a smile, stilling her. He began to chuckle and she started struggling once more, but he tightened his hand and held her against him before letting go and just laughing as each blow fell against his chest. "Oh, God, I love you, Kate," he whispered before taking her face in his hands the second she stilled and pulling in her for deep kiss. Tears continued to slip down her cheeks and she answered his kiss hungrily as her arms wound around his neck. When his lips parted and the tip of his tongue ran across her bottom lip, she moaned and responded by opening her mouth wider and attacking him with a passion._

"_I love you so much, Kate," he gasped when they broke apart for air. She collapsed against his chest and began to force air in and out. "I know I might have a funny way of showing it…"_

"_You can say that again!" she laughed, giving him a punch to the chest. He laughed in response and tightened his hold on her. "I love you, Richard Castle," she said with a smile. Just then the doctor pulled back the curtain and Kate looked up. "I suppose I should thank you for going along with Rick's ridiculous idea. Thanks."_

"_My pleasure. I've never seen Rick so happy as he was when he was working with you or so depressed as he was when he wasn't. He needs you, detective. He's in love with you." Kate's eyes swung back to Rick's as he looked away with a growing flush. _

"_You lied…" she said with a smile evident in her tone of voice. "You only told me you love me. You never said anything about being in love." Rick looked up with a grin. "I think I can live with that."_

"_I'm glad," the doctor said merrily. "I checked over the reports by the EMT's and you two are in perfect health. Detective Beckett has a small concussion. Just try to wait a couple of hours before going to sleep and everything will be fine." With that, he disappeared through the curtain._

"_So… we're good to go," Kate said, stepping towards Rick who hopped off the table. "Maybe you should come over to my place. You know… to watch over me so I don't fall asleep for a couple of hours?" she asked coquettishly, but the growl from Rick made her giggle as he pulled her into his arms._

"_If we're alone for too long, you can be damn sure you're not going to sleep anytime soon…"_


End file.
